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The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is the coming of age story of about five teenagers from different cliques who become friends over a Saturday morning detention. Plot On March 24, 1984, five students-"criminal" John Bender, "athlete" Andrew Clark, "brain" Brian Johnson, "basket case" Allison Reynolds, and "princess" Claire Standish-report for Saturday morning detention at Shermer High School in the Chicago suburb of Shermer, Illinois. While not complete strangers, each of them comes from a different clique, and they seem to have nothing in common. They gather in the high school library where they are instructed by the assistant principal, Richard Vernon, not to speak, move from their seats, or sleep for a period of eight hours, fifty-four minutes (from 7:06 AM to 4 PM). He assigns a 1,000 word essay to the students in which each must write about who he or she thinks he or she is. He then leaves, returning only to occassionly check on them. Bender, who has a particularly antagonistic relationship with Vernon, ignore the rules and frequently riles up the other students, teasing Brian and Andrew and harassing Claire. Allison is initially quiet except for the occasional random outburst. The students pass the hours by arguing and smoking marijuana that Bender retrieves from his locker. Gradually, they open up to each other and reveal their deepest personal secrets: Allison is a complusive liar, Andrew hates his overbearing father, John comes from an abusive household, Brian has contemplated suicide due to a bad grade, and Claire is a virgin. They discover that they all have strained relationships with their parents and fear making the same mistakes as the adults around them. However, despite these developing friendships, the students are afraid that once detention is over, they will return to their very different cliques and never speak to each other again. Towards the end of the day, the other students ask Brian to write the essay that Vernon assigned earlier. Brian does so, but instead of writing the assigned topic, he writes a letter objecting to Vernon's request to describe who they are, stating that the man has already judged who they are (an athlete, a basket case, a princess, a brain, and a criminal), and that he will not accept any different accounts from them. Brian finishes the essay and leaves it on the table for Vernon to read after they leave. Before the students part ways outside the school, Allison and Andrew kiss, as do Claire and John. Brian then finishes the narration by sigining it as "The Breakfast Club" as the movie ends with John raising his fist up in triumph as he leaves for home. Cast Judd Nelson as John Bender Emilio Estevez as Andrew "Andy" Clark Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Ralph Johnson Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish Ally Sheedy as Allision Reynolds Paul Gleason as Richard "Dick" Vernon John Kapelos as Carl Reed Impact The Breakfast Club is known as the "quintessential 1980s film". It launched the careers of Estevez, Nelson, Hall, Ringwald, and Sheedy. It also launched the title of The Brat Pack for most of the young actors in this movie. The film has also placed in many lists of greatest films ever. In 2005, the film received the Silver Bucket of Excellence Award in honor of it's 20th anniversary at The MTV Movie Awards. MTV tried to reunite the cast with only Sheedy, Ringwald, and Hall appearing on stage, Kapelos in the audience, and Gleason appearing presenting the award. Estevez couldn't make it and Nelson while at the awards had already left before the reunion. Category:1985 Films